


if you take any longer (i'll disappear)

by snakebait



Series: cyborgs don't bleed [2]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, M/M, error au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 14:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakebait/pseuds/snakebait
Summary: “We’re all something,” Wonshik says after a while, when Jaehwan’s eyes are fixed on the portrait of Sanghyuk again. “We’re all still growing. Technically, you’re still a child.”Jaehwan doesn’t look up when he answers. “But the world forces kids to grow up, doesn’t it?”Wonshik sighs, hating that he’s right in the worst way.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> please if you have not read part 1 this won't make a lot of sense! if you want to know more about everyone besides wonshik, part 1 has it all.

Wonshik has many patients. He’s a good doctor, he knows it. He prides himself on it.

 

In a world of chaos and destruction, he prides himself on his work. Growing up, he had only wanted to protect his little sister from boys who thought they were good enough for her. But as the wars came, the pain and destruction from a ridge between humans and artificial intelligence came, Wonshik realised his true calling was in protecting everyone, as best as he possibly could. He wanted to make a difference, wanted to see what was really out there, who he could save. He wanted to see people face to face and see them recover and find joy again.

 

Becoming a doctor had been extremely difficult, as anyone would expect. He had doubted himself, wondering if he was really cut out for what he thought he could do and the work he had to go through was exhausting and mind boggling. The strain of saving a life hurt him beyond belief sometimes but where he lost one, he saved four more or helped two more recover from illness. It’s hard work and he’s no stranger to crying during his shifts, especially when he was working in emergency rooms but he does what he can to does it to his best ability. He never wanted to quit; as long as there was suffering in the world, Wonshik would work to eradicate it as best as he could.

 

The world is no fairytale. Wonshik, from a young age, knew death intimately. His mother had been taken from him when he was seven, his father raising him and his sister as well as he could without her. He had been young, understanding the pain he felt as much as he could but his sister had been younger, confused as to why her mother wasn’t coming home everyday and Wonshik made it his mission to never make her sad. His father worked hard for his children and Wonshik as soon as he could, got a job to help with the expenses. He never wanted to burden his father anymore than he had to. His sister is their pride and even now, with him being twenty-five and a new graduate of medicine, he still babies her. 

 

His family is small, very small. Only the three of them together against the world trying to tear them apart. With the wars and conflict of the world around him, he keeps his head down as best as he can, away from all the media and the heartbreak. The world is forever changing and Wonshik keeps his opinions out of the politics, even if it’s doctors who have a lot to say on the future of the human race. It’s weird to watch people get interviewed when he has to visit hospitals, to hear them talk about cybernetics in such detail. He hands over documents of patients and leaves quickly when he sees the cameras. He’ll never have anything to say, he thinks. It’s not his place even if he is a doctor.

 

In Wonshik’s reality, there isn't just humans even if he truly wishes there was. Recent developments have resulted in cybernetic enhancements in humans and as suspected, people have begun to create humanoid cyborgs that can integrate with society effortlessly. As far as anyone is concerned, their neighbours, best friend, girlfriend, could be a cyborg. People are usually caught when they create robots of any sort. There’s not many that get far enough to create cybernetics and there’s many stories of the creators dying from the intelligence before they can even finish the project. 

 

It’s not the advancement in society that scares him; it’s the stigmas. People have been killed by their creations and that’s a fact he can't ignore but creators have been killed by the humans Wonshik treats, the ones he thinks he can trust.

 

But then again, the idea that one his patients might be a cyborg? It’s absurd. There’s no way because he deals with  _ humans _ . He’s a human doctor and that’s final.

 

Wonshik thinks it’s bullshit, all the rumours of cyborgs walking through the streets and disguising themselves as human. If there were realistic cyborgs out there, he believes the public would know but supposes that's the whole point of them being humanoid but even then… To recreate human consciousness when Wonshik doesn’t even know where the hell it is in the brain seems impossible. And people aren't supposed to question whether or not they're actually human, if the cyborg is convincing enough. That would be the intention of the creator, wouldn’t it? But then again, you would probably be able to tell by the way they move or talk, right?

 

Wonshik has never met a cyborg before. There’s robotic rubbish bins that crush their contents when they get too full that he’s confused by but other than the odd service robot, he’s never encountered one. For the longest time, he was convinced that cyborgs weren’t even real, that people had just gotten carried away with the Hollywood films, the fear and paranoia of a feature film concept clogging their minds.

 

Throughout his medical training, the height of what people called the apocalypse was ongoing and it had changed his perspective very quickly. People feared the worst and suspected that doctors and scientists were kidnapping people off the streets in order to input cybornetics into them, whether or not they survived the outcome. Wonshik had been younger, a little fearful but he knew his practise was true. He wanted to help people, no matter their beliefs or ideals. If he could help, he would in any way he could and that was the end of story. He didn't believe cyborgs or their creators had to be feared unless that was their purpose, like the robots being used for the wars. He had watched enough movies to know the outcome of technology put into the wrong hands, seen enough sci-fi to know it never ended well.

 

_ “What should we do if we run into someone with implants?” _ one of his colleagues had asked during a training session. It wasn’t a question of running into a cyborg, just someone with cybernetics. They wouldn’t run into cyborgs in a medical practise for humans. But the leading doctor in charge had laughed at her, as if the question was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

 

_ “You take them out, _ ” he said, smiling when his trainees stared at him in shock. Wonshik still remembers looking around, grateful that his surprised reaction was mimicked across the trainees.  _ “There's only place for humans in this world. Human and human only.” _

 

Wonshik hadn't forgotten that. He didn't  _ agree _ but he hadn't forgotten what his trainer had said that day. He wondered if the trainer was still practising with that philosophy. How many people had he hurt? How many people had he refused or taken control of under false trust? Wonshik didn't want to think about it. It was doctors like that that made his stomach twist in knots.

 

He didn't agree but he had never met someone with implants, implants that were professional and concise. He had never met someone who looked completely human and unsuspicious who could have been a cyborg.

 

He went home to his empty apartment but it didn't feel right. For the first time in a long time, he was afraid of his own society when he really had nothing to fear. He was human and that was it. He rang his father, wanting to know if it was true, if people really feared cyborgs.

 

_ “It’s what the media wants,” _ his father told him quietly and Wonshik stupidly realised it was almost eleven in the evening when he called.

 

_ “People are scared of what they don't understand. They’re scared of what they  _ choose _ to not understand. _ ”

 

Wonshik had only been twenty two when his father told him that but he still remembers it plain as day, five years later. Humans don't pay attention to what doesn't affect them but suddenly, they do and it’s anyone’s problem. If someone is a cyborg, thousands of people have a say on it and it’s sickening to think that  _ thousands  _ think the same way, that cyborgs are dangerous and need to be disposed of.

 

“What… What if someone has implants?” he asked his father shakily. “And… Do I kill them?”

 

_ “If you have to ask that, you're already winning the game. They want you to be a pawn, Wonshik. They want you brainless. You know you're not and you’ll never submit. Don't be their plaything.” _

 

Wonshik had nodded then and now, he keeps it close to his heart. The people he sees tell him stories, things he chooses to dismiss and reply with  _ It’s not my business. _ He treats humans no matter what their beliefs are, no matter what  _ his  _ beliefs are. He’ll treat anyone that needs his help and that’s all he needs to worry about, not what anyone else thinks or dictates.

 

He’s lucky the law never passed. There was talk of listing all those with cybernetic implants before the government realised how difficult that would be on a wide scale  _ and _ how much of a damn clusterfuck it would be. Wonshik had been outraged by it, immediately voting against it. The pure act of violation of privacy had made him sick.

 

As far as he knows, everyone that he has treated has been human. He’s had his suspicions of implants but it’s not his responsibility. Humans and humans only are his speciality.

 

He had never been sure of suspicions until he met Doctor Lee Hongbin.

 

Hongbin is a doctor, just like him, but in a different field. At first, Wonshik just thought him to be a mechanic of sorts, and that’s what he had described himself as, anyway. When Hongbin had come to him on the account that his wrist was in pain and he didn't know how to fix it, Wonshik thought nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a regular practising day for him and Hongbin had seemed like a normal patient. 

 

It was Hongbin’s dominant hand, his left, and he had undergone surgery for carpal tunnel a while back, he told Wonshik. All of it was standard procedure and he had run some tests, nothing too overwhelming and flexed Hongbin’s wrist with his hands, rolling it to see if there was any other damage he couldn’t identify. All seemed normal except for Hongbin hissing on a certain twist. His right arm flexed in response to the pain, about to grab Wonshik’s arm when it happened.

 

He had been surprised to hear the gears in Hongbin’s right arm move like clockwork as he flexed his fingers. It was quiet and he would have missed it if he hadn't have been holding Hongbin’s other arm, close enough to hear the next to almost silent connections firing off in his arm.

 

He had blinked, looking up at Hongbin who was staring at him with wide eyes, shocked. They both had not intended for anything to happen but Wonshik’s hand gripped Hongbin’s before he could pull away, silently telling him that it was okay, that Wonshik wouldn't hurt him. He would never hurt him and he kept his promise, even if Hongbin looked scared out of his mind, ready to run.

 

“I’m not your enemy,” he said and Hongbin took a deep breath, shaking in his grasp. “I’m not, I swear to you. Are you… Are you a cyborg? Completely?” It felt like a stupid question. Why would Hongbin come to him, a human doctor, if he was a cyborg?

 

Hongbin shook his head quickly and flexed his left arm, wincing from the pain of it. “Only my arm… I’m born and raised human.” He looked up, around and Wonshik reassured him the door was locked and the cameras wouldn’t do much because they don’t monitor audio. “I’m… a doctor but only to cyborgs. A mechanic.”

 

Wonshik had nodded once and the conversation had ended there. He tested Hongbin’s reflexes in both hands and identified that Hongbin’s wrist was only strained, overworked. The cyborg doctor admitted to having sprained it a few weeks earlier and Wonshik concluded that he just needed to rest. 

 

He didn't think that he would see Hongbin afterwards and kept his true records to himself. Official medical records labelled Hongbin as human, “100% authentic”, by government standards which made Wonshik squint. He knew that was how they identified humans but seeing it and seeing Hongbin made him… confused. Hongbin looked and felt human and by his standards, he was. He just had cybernetic impacts. Is that what people based him on? They didn’t know the truth and they would never know the truth. Wonshik wouldn’t let them.

 

He kept the real records he made of Hongbin handwritten and locked away in his safe, away from prying eyes. Hongbin could trust him, as a doctor to another doctor. The information shared between them was confidencial as it always was being patient and doctor. He knew what he had to do to protect him and he knew Hongbin knew it too. They had to trust each other.

 

But Hongbin came back in the following weeks, his wrist healed but there were stitches in his eyebrow that needed to be taken out and fixed, desperately. They risked infection and Wonshik wrinkled his nose as he did the work, shaking his head and sighing at the job.

 

“How did you manage this?” he asked, to which Hongbin grinned. The smile vanished when Wonshik pulled the thread out of his eyebrow, ending in a hiss. Wonshik’s eyebrow twitched up in response.

 

“Walked into a door, actually.” Hongbin winced when the antiseptic was pressed to his cut.  _ Stop being a baby. _ “Well, my… housemate… slammed the door in front of me and I walked into it.”

 

Wonshik didn't question why Hongbin hesitated on  _ housemate.  _ It wasn’t his business and if Hongbin didn’t want to tell him, he did not have to. Wonshik wasn’t his therapist and after he had stitched him up, Hongbin had paid by cash and left. Wonshik thought it shady but it was money and he had helped Hongbin. That was all that mattered.

 

Some receptionists asked him about Hongbin. At first, it made Wonshik horribly nervous but it was simply people asking if he was single since he was so handsome. Apparently, he had a nice smile and one of the receptionists was thinking of asking him out. Wonshik simply shrugged when they asked him; he didn’t know and it wasn’t his issue.

 

But Hongbin came back a few months later, another slit in his eyebrow and a burn he thought to be infected. Wonshik had sighed and admitted him quickly, ignoring the shocked glances of the girls.

 

“You could just go to the ER,” Wonshik tells him after he locks his door and cracks his fingers. How the hell does Hongbin end up with so many injuries?

 

Hongbin sits himself down, his eyes downcast but he glances up at Wonshik when he approaches. “There’s no one to trust.” 

 

His voice is quiet and Wonshik tilts his head in thought. Just how many dirty doctors are there? How many has Hongbin encountered? 

 

Wonshik shakes his head and sits down on his chair, wheeling to the computer. He updates things before grabbing his tools and returning to Hongbin to work in silence. Hongbin closes his eyes as he works, not distracting and Wonshik understands why the girls think Hongbin is pretty.

 

“This is the second time. What happened this time?” Wonshik asks, clipping the thread and attempting to not trim Hongbin’s actual eyebrow. He grabs his glasses and slips them on, hating that he has to wear them. Hongbin doesn’t comment nor does he open his eyes. He’s not fearful, for once.

 

“The last one was Taekwoon,” Hongbin says quietly. “This time, it was Jaehwan. He flicked his arm out when he was talking and hit me in the face.”

 

“And split your eyebrow?” Wonshik finds it hard to believe but Hongbin nods, not elaborating.

 

Hongbin lives with four other boys, all varying in age according to him. Hakyeon, Taekwoon, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan are their names, most of them older than Hongbin while Sanghyuk is the youngest. He sounds proud when he speaks of them, boastful almost and he says that Sanghyuk is a brat with too much height.

 

“You said you're a doctor of cybernetics,” Wonshik says slowly, gaging Hongbin’s reaction. He doesn’t do anything besides open his eyes and blink slowly, his eyes on the wall behind Wonshik. “Do you often work with cyborgs?”

 

“As often as you work with humans,” Hongbin answers cooly. He’s protecting himself and whoever he calls his patients, even if Wonshik has been welcoming to him. Wonshik isn’t angry; he has no right to be. He protects his patients just like he’s doing to Hongbin right now. It’s their duty as doctors.

 

“Who stitched you up last time, Hongbin?” he asks quietly, sitting down on his chair and looking at the doctor. It wasn't professionally done and Wonshik had gotten to the slit just before it could risk infection. This one isn’t as bad and the stitching is better but it’s still not professional.

 

“I tried to,” he says, looking at the wall still. Wonshik squints at him, stopping himself from laughing at the irony of him squinting whilst wearing his glasses. He’s seen Hongbin struggle to read certain posters on his wall and thinks he might need them too but it’s not something to bring up now. “But my partner finished it. He’s more precise than me.”

 

“Shaky hands don't help.” Wonshik wheels himself to his computer and hums. “Come back in a few days and I’ll take the stitches out if they don't come out by themselves. Keep them clean and don't walk into anymore walls or have- Jaehwan… hit you again. Have your partner help you clean them if you need to.”

 

Hongbin nods, keeping quiet. He watches for a while while Wonshik looks at his arm, frowning at the electrical burn. It’s not infected but it definitely needs attention and Wonshik gets to work before Hongbin can think about anything else to say.

 

“How is it on your arm?” Wonshik mutters to himself. Electrical burns are usually on the fingers, if anywhere non-intentional. Hongbin starts to laugh, even as Wonshik cleans the wound.

 

“Sanghyuk thought it’d be funny.” Hongbin watches his hand and Wonshik glances up at him quickly, signalling him to keep talking but the mechanic remains quiet, watching as Wonshik picks and places gauze on the burn quickly. It’s only small and it’s not too messy; it’s just a normal burn, really and Wonshik is finished in minutes.

 

“Well, tell Sanghyuk not to do that again.” Wonshik returns to the computer to update the files and pulls out his own handwritten documents. When Hongbin sees he moves and compares the files before smiling softly, stepping back and looks at Wonshik with a tilt of his head.

 

“I didn’t think you’d change the files,” he says quietly.

 

Wonshik shrugs, not understanding the surprise. It’s common sense to him but it wouldn’t be to majority of other doctors. They live in a dirty world and Hongbin knows it just as well as he does, even if he’s a doctor in a different field. Hongbin is what the people fear, what they hate blindly and can’t understand. If anyone knew about him, he’d be jailed and most likely killed, disposed of and the idea of it makes Wonshik sick. Hongbin has done nothing wrong as far as Wonshik can tell and he’ll keep that mindset unless he’s proven otherwise.

 

“It’s a savage world,” he says, clicking around his computer to close to the documents. He’s positive Hongbin didn’t miss the  _ 100% authentic _ in red on the screen. “We have to look out for each other. You need my help and I’m obligated to give it to you. It’s not as deep as you might think.”

 

“But you’re protecting me.” Hongbin seems confused and when Wonshik looks at him, the mechanic is frowning. “That puts you in danger, too. You know I have implants, that I gave them to myself. You could report me but…“

 

Wonshik scowls, shaking his head. Report him? It’s not as simple as that. He’s in danger but so long as Hongbin’s little secret doesn’t get out, they have nothing to fear. Wonshik is curious, that’s all and he dug himself a hole he can barely see out of but he’s made it his mission to keep Hongbin safe in any way that he can.

 

“You’re my patient,” Wonshik says, absolute. “It’s my responsibility to protect you and help you in any way that I can. And if that means hiding the files, then so be it.”

 

Hongbin blinks at him, sitting back down on the cot in shock. He stares at Wonshik for a moment and Wonshik is afraid he might cry but Hongbin smiles at him, wide eyed and emotional before shaking his head. He inhales sharply, flexing his hand and Wonshik strains his ears to hear the gears clicking, a satisfying sound.

 

“I’d have thought you’d turn me in,” he whispers but Wonshik hears him clearly. “I was waiting for the penny to drop, honestly. To have to run from you.”

 

“The world doesn’t like people like you and I.” Wonshik stands up, rolling up his sleeves. “They don’t like people who think for themselves.”

 

Hongbin smiles, relieved and he touches Wonshik’s shoulder in thanks. He opens the door but pauses for a moment, closing it again. “You have my address in the files, don’t you?” he asks, looking over his shoulder.

 

Wonshik looks at the files, checking both but he shakes his head. “I must have removed it. I don’t believe you submitted one when you first came here?”

 

Hongbin takes a pen from Wonshik’s desk and writes it down on his file where it should be, opening the door again once he’s finished. “If… I’ve seen your work so if you’d like, then I can show you mine. Maybe you’ll understand why I’m so bad at dressing my own wounds.”

 

They laugh a little, Hongbin’s more of humour whilst Wonshik’s is just to conceal a grimace. He wishes Hongbin well, telling him to not get himself killed on the way home and the joke would fall flat if Hongbin was sensitive but he winks when he turns, saluting Wonshik and walking out of the clinic with a boyish grin. They’re the same age but Hongbin feels so youthful, smart and easy going. 

 

Wonshik ignores the dreamy sighs of the girls and returns to his office, locking up his files and pocketing the key. The safe is in his desk, a fake bottom to one of his drawers keeping the file away from anyone who could go searching for it. He doubts anyone would but he used to keep his notebooks in there before taking them out when he met Hongbin for the first time six months ago.

 

He takes off his glasses, closing the drawer quickly and gets ready for his two o’clock, plastering on a smile as he walks to the waiting room and calls the name on his clipboard.

  
  


***

 

Wonshik watches the news when he comes home, flicking on the television as he changes out of his jeans. He took home Hongbin’s file since there’s a scheduled inspection tomorrow which he won't be present for. He doubts anyone will go through his drawers but it’s a risk he’d rather not take.

 

The news isn't anything he hasn't heard about. Exchange rates, weather, daily reports. He’s in his kitchen grabbing a glass of water when he hears something he doesn't often hear:  _ experiment. _

 

Wonshik sits down on the couch quickly, eyes fixed on the television like a kid to a video game. He’s focused as the report continues, his stomach churning.

 

It’s someone being arrested,  _ humiliated _ as she’s dragged out of her lab, gloves still on and her hair wild. She's being restrained like a rabid animal while the report drones on, saying her name, her age, where she was  _ born. _ She’s a doctor, just like Wonshik but in a different field. Her arms are scarred and the media doesn't mind to zoom in with their cameras, ignoring the woman’s cries and begging that there's something she needs to complete, that they don't  _ understand _ .

 

The reporters have half the mind to laugh about the ordeal, calling the doctor guilty and Wonshik mutes the television as he flicks through Hongbin’s file and dials his number.

 

The woman’s face comes on screen again when Hongbin answers with an accusing, “ _ Who is this? _ ” Wonshik spills his guts over the phone, almost begging Hongbin to  _ make  _ him understand what this woman, this doctor sees, what she believes is right.

 

Hongbin is silent for a moment too long. But he replies, calm as ever with a smile in his voice.  _ “I gave you my address for a reason. Do you trust me?” _

 

“When you say it like that, I wish I didn't,” Wonshik laughs, a little flat. Hongbin hums, the distant sound of keyboard clacks in the background followed by a small voice that Wonshik doesn't recognise.

 

_ “Stop by mine over the weekend,”  _ Hongbin says, smile still in his voice.  _ “I’ll show you everything.” _

 

“I’ll be there.” Wonshik turns the television off as soon as Hongbin hangs up and shakes the images of the woman from his mind. He doesn't want to think about Hongbin one day being on his screen, convicted and punished like a criminal. 

 

They're both doctors. Doctors stay true to their practise. 

 

Wonshik sometimes wishes he didn't have to.


	2. two

Hongbin’s house is damn hard to fucking find.

 

Wonshik thought it would be close and admittedly, it is. He stopped the taxi a few blocks away and walked the distance but the neighbours are thick and he’s very quickly realising how far Hongbin has to travel to get to his clinic.

 

He ends up knocking on the wrong door and he almost gives in and calls Hongbin there’s a message on his phone that makes him stop, exasperated.

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ i can see you. you're getting warmer :)

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik:  _ You’ve been watching me but you didn't think to help me?

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ you're a doctor. i would have thought you’d be smarter :)

  
  


Wonshik rolls his eyes and finally spots the house, no thanks to Hongbin. His handwriting was difficult enough to decipher because it was like looking at chicken scratch and trying to make lettering out of it. 

 

Wonshik didn't bring much with him because he figured he wouldn't need mch. Hongbin told him not to and that he was going to show Wonshik what an average day in his life is like since Wonshik showed him his own normalcy. He mentioned Sanghyuk had gotten a taste of his own medicine and had to be ‘fixed’ to which Hongbin didn't reply when Wonshik asked what the fuck that actually meant.

 

As far as he knows, Hongbin lives with four other men. Taekwoon, Hakyeon, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan. Hakyeon is his partner and Wonshik doesn't even know what that means but he doesn't have much room to question it, nor does he have the right. He left it as it is but he's also confused how Hongbin is going to show him his works inside his house.

 

Wonshik sighs when he knocks, hoping that this is the right door because it’s not, he’s going to tell Hongbin to get fucked. But someone that is definitely not Hongbin opens the door, a smile on his face until suddenly there’s  _ not _ , a deep scowl and a defensive posture. He's glaring at Wonshik, surprising him and Wonshik cowers a little, stepping down the porch stairs in response. The man isn't taller than him and as soft as he looks, he doesn't want to find out what this man could do to him if he's this defensive just from opening a door to a stranger.

 

“Who are you?” he barks, his voice a little higher than Wonshik expected. His face is pretty, shaved lines criss crossing in his brows and his hair is black, pulled to the front in a choppy style. He’s pretty, big lips and a strong nose but he’s not exactly waiting for a compliment from Wonshik.

 

“Kim,” Wonshik answers quickly when the man stamps his foot. “Doctor Kim Wonshik. I’m here to see Doctor Lee?”

 

The man doesn't back off but Hongbin appears behind him, a small hand resting on the man’s shoulder to grab his attention. “It’s okay, Jaehwan,” Hongbin says softly, smiling at both of them. “Doctor Kim is a friend. Thank you for answering the door.”

 

“But he's-” Jaehwan protests but one look from Hongbin shuts him up, making him pout. He looks five years younger with the expression, startling Wonshik. “Okay. Do you want me to stay?”

 

Hongbin shakes his head, back to smiling at him and rubbing his back. “Thank you, though. I’ll speak with you once Wonshik is gone.”

 

Jaehwan nods, shooting a glare at Wonshik which catches him off guard. Hongbin leads him in and shuts the door behind him, apologising for Jaehwan’s behaviour quickly.

 

“He’s like… the head of the house, in a way.” Hongbin looks proud when he says it, smiling to himself. He points down the hall, giving Wonshik a quick once over of the first floor of the house. He knocks on the wall of what Wonshik assumes is the kitchen, where there’s another man washing his hands in the sink, shaking off the water when Hongbin calls for him.

 

“Doctor Kim is here so could you keep Sanghyuk and Jaehwan out of my lab?” Hongbin asks, smiling at the man who’s very pretty too, his hair long and a little wavy, shorter than Jaehwan’s. He looks older, more mature and he nods, handing Hongbin a plate with a few sandwiches on it. 

 

“Taekwoon’s?” Hongbin asks and the man nods, leaning into his presence and Wonshik blinks when Hongbin kisses him on the cheek, the man smiling and shaking his head as he returns back to the kitchen, wiping down the counter. He must be the partner Hongbin has spoken about and Wonshik suddenly feels like he’s intruding. Somehow, he can feel the connection between them and swallows when Hongbin glances at him, taking him through the hallway and down the stairs.

 

“Your partner?” Wonshik asks as they walk through the hall. He distantly hears a piano and when they descend down to the basement, Hongbin’s lab drawing closer as he’s described, the sound continues to get louder.

 

Hongbin hums around the sandwich he shoves into his mouth, chewing quickly to respond. “That's Hakyeon. We’ve been together since I was nineteen.”

 

Wonshik nods, not finding it much of his business. Hongbin pauses for a moment in front of him and grins, tilting his head.

 

“What do you think my work really is, Wonshik?”

 

He blinks at the mechanic, frowning. He works on cyborgs, doesn't he? It’s interesting that all four of his housemates  _ and _ partner approve of his work but Wonshik seriously doubts the whole world thinks like the media he sees on television.

 

“Cyborgs,” he answers cooly. “Robots and cybernetic implants, as you have in your arm.”

 

Hongbin nods once, still smiling. It’s a little unnerving and he clicks his tongue before flicking on the lower hallway lights. “You’re correct. But my housemates aren't human, if you think otherwise.”

 

Wonshik stops which seems to make  _ Hongbin  _ confused and stares at him, the distance between them unnerving. They're not human? “What are you talking about?” he breathes, wary. He shouldn't be, he  _ knows _ he can trust Hongbin but that's a heavy statement to drop on someone, especially someone with no experience of cyborgs.

 

“My father created Hakyeon,” Hongbin says, like it’s the most normal thing in the world but Wonshik supposes it is for him. This is Hongbin’s practise; he knows robots like Wonshik knows humans. “He died when I was eleven and I found Hakyeon in the basement a few years later. I continued my father’s work and Hakyeon woke up when I was about to turn sixteen.”

 

Wonshik takes a breath to process  _ that _ . Hongbin is by human standards, partly cyborg. But he's still human, inside and out aside from his arm. But Hakyeon, the man he just saw in the kitchen acting normal and human, lovely and welcoming, is a cyborg. He's a  _ cyborg _ and Wonshik didn't even question it. He seriously couldn't- Hakyeon in all ways looks and communicates as a human. 

 

“It’s a long story,” Hongbin offers, shrugging. “Jaehwan came afterwards, when I was twenty. And then Sanghyuk when I was twenty-two. Taekwoon was made last by all of us.”

 

Wonshik nods, regaining himself. Hongbin’s work is so realistic that he couldn't tell if Jaehwan was a cyborg or not. From his knowledge, people usually leave out some pieces of artificial skin so that cyborgs can be recognised as what they are but even Hongbin’s arm has skin that  _ feels _ like smooth skin. It covers what must be the plastic protecting the wiring inside, the wiring that makes up all of Hongbin’s housemates. 

 

“They’re all cyborgs,” Hongbin confirms, kicking a door on the left of the hall and that effectively shuts the piano from before off. The door opens quickly and Wonshik blinks at a man who is so incredibly  _ long,  _ his hair hanging over one of his eyes. If Hakyeon and Jaehwan were handsome, this man is gorgeous, his legs long and his fingers pretty. 

 

“Doctor Kim is here,” Hongbin says like that explains everything but it does to the other man, who glances between both of them before ducking his head.

 

“Nice to meet you,” he says and his voice is perfect too, airy and light. He sounds like an angel, in a way and Wonshik notes the somehow cold red of his eyes when he looks up at him, a clear indication of his robotics. “I'll be quiet.”

 

“You already are,” Hongbin laughs but the man just nods, not getting the joke and closes the door. When the piano starts up again, it’s quieter. It eerily sounds like it’s being played on a record player.

 

Hongbin hip checks the door as he announces, “Taekwoon can manipulate sound.” He wedges it open for Wonshik to slip past and there's no one inside which Wonshik expected but there's photos everywhere, Hongbin when he was young, photos of Taekwoon and Jaehwan, cyborg parts laying around, another person holding a robotic hand who Hongbin names as Sanghyuk, “the baby”.

 

“I didn't expect this,” Wonshik admits, the entire lab surprising him. There's parts everywhere, computer monitors lining some of the desks and a table with a chest piece laying there, something that Wonshik points to with a frown.

 

“Oh, that was Jaehwan’s,” Hongbin supplies, covering it with a sheet. “I screwed up his measurements early on and if I had have made him with that chest, he would have been  _ very _ disproportionate.”

 

Wonshik sits down at Hongbin’s desk with him as the mechanic- well,  _ doctor _ , logs on and flies through windows, his eyes scanning so fast Wonshik is surprised  _ he _ isn’t a cyborg. 

 

“I created all of them, only at different times,” Hongbin tells him, leaning back and propping his feet onto his desk with the plate in his hands. He's on the last piece of the sandwich and when he's done, he lets it clatter onto his desk. “Well, Jaehwan woke up and created himself and Hakyeon and I made Sanghyuk together.” He picks at his fingers before turning to log into his computer. “And we all created Taekwoon, like I said.”

 

Wonshik almost falls of his seat because it’s backless but recovers, finally taking in the computer screen that Hongbin has set up. There's documents up, various numbers and percentages and Wonshik pins each of the different windows to one of the residents of the house. Hongbin is purple, his own wiring transmitting to the computer while Taekwoon’s vitals are in red, his brain activity and heart rate documented along with Hakyeon’s, a heat sensor lighting up which Wonshik traces back to Hakyeon washing dishes.

 

Sanghyuk’s vitals are in yellow but a few blink different colors, his brain activity a little different to everyone else’s and the door opens suddenly, a boy stepping inside. Wonshik recognises him as Sanghyuk, his hair platinum blonde, pretty and smooth and it strikes Wonshik that all of them look so different but it’s something else that makes him freeze.

 

Sanghyuk is missing an eye.

 

Hongbin hums, dropping his feet from the desk. “Lay down,” he says, casual and Sanghyuk moves what would have been Jaehwan’s chest to the cart next to it with no effort and lies down, his eyes closed. Wonshik lets Hongbin push his backless chair over to the table and stands when Hongbin does, peering down at Sanghyuk.

 

“How did he…?” Wonshik can't bring himself to ask but Sanghyuk’s eyes open quickly, orange and yellow swirling in the irises. His right eye looks like a robot, he  _ is _ one but the rest of Sanghyuk is completely humanoid, his skin and hair, even his left eye as it swirls with colours humans aren’t capable of.

 

“It was Taekwoon’s fault,” the cyborg confesses with an innocent smile, his teeth a little too big for his mouth but it succeeds in making Wonshik almost coo at him. “We were playing around and he went to connect to my heart. Our connections didn't like each other for a moment and his hand electrocuted my socket.”

 

“The wiring was fried but I haven't been able to do the measurements again,” Hongbin adds as he moves around the lab, grabbing various tools. He dusts off some glasses as well which relieves Wonshik of his worries for Hongbin’s obvious bad eyesight. “Hold this.”

 

He hands Wonshik a tiny screwdriver and Hongbin peels back Sanghyuk’s skin around his forehead and eye with utmost care to access the affected area, which is bigger than Wonshik originally thought. His cheek is exposed and Wonshik refrains himself from leaning forward and touching the coils and wiring in awe.

 

“It’s just like a human brain,” Hongbin says, settling around Sanghyuk’s head on his chair. He sits just like how a chiropractor would when adjusting someone only he’s fixing Sanghyuk’s mechanical optic nerve. “Just without all the sterilisation. Since it’s his eye, I have to reconnect it to his brain so he can see again.”

 

“Just like an optic nerve,” Wonshik says to himself, fixated on Sanghyuk’s eye. “But you can't do that in humans. It’s incredibly hard to give sight back to someone. Impossible, almost.”

 

“I designed Sanghyuk in a different way to the others,” Hongbin answers, Sanghyuk laying completely still with his eyes closed. “Taekwoon can manipulate sound and he matches with Jaehwan, keeping him quiet or making him loud. Sanghyuk handles colours because of Hakyeon and I. Without his sight, there's no colour.”

 

“It’s less poetic than it sounds,” Sanghyuk laughs and Hongbin tuts as he fishes out a cable from what seems to be Sanghyuk’s cheek. He moves around with the cable, taking a random eye from the drawer of the cart. He takes the screwdriver and Wonshik couldn't understand or follow even if he tried but Hongbin comically pulls the wire once the eye is attached and it reels back like a motor cord, feeding back into Sanghyuk’s skull with a  _ snap _ . The cyborg remains still and Hongbin fishes out a small lighter and a pin needle from his pocket, sowing Sanghyuk’s artificial skin back into place and taking a cream from the cart, bandaging what Sanghyuk’s proportions will allow and dusts his hands off, finished. It’s like he was wounded and Hongbin fixed him but Wonshik supposes he was wounded, only in a way he will never understand.

 

Wonshik blinks while Sanghyuk rises up, opening his eyes at different times before the muscle memory comes back to him and he blinks a few times, one eye blue while the other is yellow, one eye red while the other is pink before they flash yellow and return to brown, comfortable again. 

 

“So that's it?” Wonshik says, bewildered. That seemed too easy but for Hongbin, he supposes this is all like a first language to him, just like medicine is a first language to Wonshik.

 

“That's it,” Hongbin laughs, patting him on the shoulder. Sanghyuk thanks both of them respectfully and he's gone in a flash, Wonshik sitting there like a fool. “Did you think it’d be harder?”

 

“Well- I don't know…” Wonshik wheels himself back over to the computer and sees Sanghyuk’s vitals updated, a warning box stating that the optic nerve has been tampered with or reinstated. Hongbin dismisses the warning and the information changes again, Sanghyuk’s sight operating at peak performance like it should be. 

 

“He has the best sight out of all of us,” Hongbin says, eyes flickering across the screens. His own vitals are there, his arm flashing yellow before he slaps it-

 

“How the hell is that going to fix it?” Wonshik snaps, grabbing his arm before he can slap it again but Hongbin’s vital return to purple again, healthy in Hongbin language. The mechanic grins up at him like he knows Wonshik is completely stunned by everything that has progressed so far but how could he not be? 

 

“You could be a legend,” he tells Hongbin, almost in a whisper lest someone hear them. “This is revolutionary, Hongbin. You-”

 

“That's exactly what I don't want.” His words are final. He stares at the screen, at Hakyeon’s vitals that fluctuate slowly in blue. “This is something I would have been proud of when I was seven. I love them but that doesn't change the fact that the world will always view them as wrong.”

 

Even with everything he's seen, there's a lot about Hongbin he's yet to discover and he’ll admit that it was wrong thing to say but he didn't mean it with ill intent. Wonshik simply nods, biting his lip because he can't disagree with Hongbin. He's lucky enough to be trusted with this knowledge of Hongbin’s  _ family _ . 

 

“I won't tell anyone.” Saying it outloud like it’s a funny little secret between teenagers doesn't go unnoticed to both of them but they hide their smiles from each other. Wonshik stands and Hongbin takes him back through the house to accompany him. 

 

Hakyeon almost crashes into them from how fast he moves but Hongbin stops him before they can hurt each other and Hakyeon smiles, quickly bowing to Wonshik in respect. “Thank you for coming,” he says politely and Wonshik returns the bow in thanks.

 

“Isn't it unnecessary to bow to someone younger than you?” 

 

Wonshik startles and turns to Taekwoon who’s eyes bore into him without meaning to, making him take a breath. He's not much taller than Wonshik but his presence is somehow louder than anyone else’s whilst sly at the same time.

 

Hakyeon laughs, shaking his head. “He's a guest. And one of a doctorate in my house. It’s just common politeness.”

 

Taekwoon blinks, his eyes flicking between Wonshik and Hakyeon before he simply nods, like he accessed the information and deemed it important and leaves, Hongbin sighing in his wake.

 

“I’m sorry about him,” Hongbin says when Wonshik steps onto the porch. “He's… All of them have something that's different about them. Taekwoon just doesn't- I don't know.”

 

“You don't have to apologise for him.” Wonshik shoves his hands in his pockets, pulling out his phone to check the time. Five o’clock in the afternoon. “He didn't do anything wrong.”

 

Hongbin pauses, thinking but smiling softly, nodding in thanks. They don't know where they’ll see each other next, really but there's still a lot left in the air. Especially with how Hongbin even  _ created _ them all but he trusts Wonshik. They trust each other and that's all that matters right now; Hongbin wanted to show him and Wonshik wanted to learn.

 

“Keep in touch,” Wonshik says, more of a question than a comment but Hongbin shakes his hand, nodding curtly and Wonshik calls a taxi to pick him up six blocks from Hongbin’s house just to be safe. There's a message on his phone when he steps inside the car and tells the driver where to go.

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ get home safe. jaehwan says he’ll kill you if you breathe a word about us hahahahah

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik: _ you managed to make your laugh sound even faker over text

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ it’s a talent!

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ but for real i will rip out of your eyes and make you eat thedssslmllllosps

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ he says it was nice to meet you! - hakyeon :)

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik:  _ do you have a community phone or something?

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ it’s called icloud. only hongbin-hyung, jaehwan-hyung and hakyeon-hyung have phones - hyuk

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik:  _ then how did you just text me without a phone?

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ WE’RE ROBOTS HOW DO YOU THINK?

 

_ Lee Hongbin: _ \- Jaehwan


	3. three

_ “Talk to them?” _

 

Hongbin isn't upset, surprisingly. He's only confused as to why Wonshik would ask such a question but his reaction is understandable. He's spent so long protecting his family from the world, protecting them from people like Wonshik who pick and pry and ask questions. He's lived with them, created with them since they came to be. He knows everything about them that it seems stupid for Wonshik to want to hear it from them.

 

_ “Are you going to give them therapy? I don't understand your question.” _

 

Wonshik snorts. “Therapy? You're out of your mind. I just want to know more, I suppose. You know how everyone’s near death experiences can be di-”

 

_ “That's a bad example to use-” _

 

“Listen to me, you  _ fool _ ,” Wonshik spits but Hongbin laughs for a good two minutes until he finally shuts up. “I meant that these people came from nowhere, right? Did you program personalities into them, memories and emotions?”

 

Hongbin makes a strange sound, uncomfortable suddenly.  _ “Well, no. They can do things that humans can't and Jaehwan wasn't even finished but he woke up. He built himself while I watched.” _

 

“And you didn't program that, right? Did Sanghyuk do that?”

 

_ “No. Sanghyuk was created by Hakyeon and I. And Taekwoon refused to wake up without all of use present.” _

 

“That's what I mean! You wrote the structure and you  _ built _ them physically but they're all completely different and Hakyeon has the-”

 

_ “Hakyeon is more human than anyone I’ve ever met,”  _ Hongbin defends before Wonshik can even say what he wants to which was along the lines of that. He's awfully protective of all of them but nothing compares to his threats about Hakyeon. In the past few weeks, Wonshik feels like he's only heard a small portion of the things Hongbin has to say about his partner and most of them are along the lines of Jaehwan’s threats, mostly violent to anyone who could hurt them and how much he would rather die than let anyone so much as look at Hakyeon the wrong way.

 

“I agree with you,” Wonshik says, immediately diffusing Hongbin before he can crack it again. “I want to know what they think about where they came from and how they feel about being here. You can't really pull something out of thin air, right?”

 

Hongbin makes another awkward sound but doesn't protest.  _ “I'll… I'll talk to them. Hakyeon would be fine with it and I think Sanghyuk should be fine but- Jaehwan will take a lot of convincing.” _

 

“You can sit in with Jaehwan if you’d like to,” Wonshik reassures. He assumed as much with him. He still hasn't warmed up to Wonshik and out of the three times he's been at Hongbin’s house since the first visit, Jaehwan has tried to hurt him in not so subtle ways or just blatantly threatened him. Hakyeon figuratively blew a fuse at him the second time that Jaehwan made a snide comment about humans that wasn't completely misjudged and Jaehwan hasn't been around Wonshik since then. Hongbin said it was nothing personal, that there's more to it than Wonshik simply being a human doctor but he didn't give him much to work with. 

 

_ “Speak to Hakyeon and Sanghyuk first. I’ll try and talk to Jaehwan but don't be surprised if he says no.” _

 

Wonshik nods before remembering Hongbin can't see him. “Don't insist on it. If he doesn't want to then there's no point in forcing him. It will make him worse.”

 

They hang up soon after, Hongbin claiming that he's going to bed but Wonshik doesn't sleep just yet. Starting with Hakyeon, what can he ask? He’d be the most open, Wonshik assumes and he's been nothing but helpful and patient with all of them. 

 

He drafts up simple questions but it’s hard to narrow down what exactly he wants to ask without Hakyeon there. He's the most human out of all of them so how did he learn? What does he know that Taekwoon or Jaehwan don't? He's been awake the longest, Hongbin said and learnt from him and his mother the most. Hakyeon and Jaehwan also work jobs but Wonshik didn't ask what as.

 

And for Sanghyuk, the second youngest in reality but the baby of the cyborgs. He's supposedly twenty-four this year, whilst Hakyeon and Taekwoon are twenty-nine. Jaehwan is twenty-seven, older than both Wonshik and Hongbin but how did they decide these ages? Hakyeon has been awake since Hongbin was sixteen so what did he look like back then? How do they change their appearances?

 

When Wonshik does decide to sleep, it doesn't end well. He falls asleep after hours and dreams of red, blue, purple, green and yellow and somehow, pink shows through. He's never been an expert in dreams and never will be but the colours make him calm, they make him feel… 

 

Safe. 

  
  


***

  
  


There are some questions he didn't even think to ask and one of them is  _ can you eat? _ but Hakyeon answers the question without it being asked when he sets down cookies that Taekwoon made earlier and simply eats one.

 

Wonshik watches him with his jaw hanging open like a fool and Hakyeon laughs at him, throwing the cookie at Sanghyuk when he walks in to which the cyborg catches it with frightening accuracy.

 

“It’s nothing impressive,” Hakyeon says through a smile, offering the cookies. Sanghyuk sits on the floor and smacks Hakyeon’s hand when he reaches for another to which Hakyeon smacks him upside the head and that's another five minutes wasted whilst Wonshik watches the new cyborgs brawl in the middle of the living room.

 

“What did you want to ask us?” Sanghyuk says when he's got Hakyeon on his back, his wrists pinned to the ground. The eldest cyborg admits defeat surprisingly easily and Sanghyuk returns to the cookies to eat them without his hands, chewing with his jaw flat on the table like a child.

 

Wonshik blinks, lost. Sanghyuk asked him a question. Wait- Sanghyuk asked him a question. “Yes,” he blurts, cursing himself before he grabs his notebook. Hakyeon sits down again, brushing himself off. “Hakyeon, Hongbin didn't tell me a lot about you besides that you work and you and him created Sanghyuk together.”

 

Hakyeon hums, eyes on Sanghyuk as he eats. The love in his eyes in undeniable and Wonshik almost coos at the sight but Hakyeon looks at him with a smile. “Each of us have a strange ability or skill. When Hongbin was twenty-one, I… I broke down in a bathroom of our apartment because I kept absorbing memories that weren't mine.”

 

_ My notes are going to be screwed by the end of this,  _ Wonshik thinks as he writes his shorthand and crosses his legs. “Memories that weren't yours?”

 

“At my old workplace, a woman had lost her daughter but told no one. Negative emotions tire me out immensely and I couldn't handle it so I had to quit,” he answers calmly, eyes elsewhere.

 

“Do you have this as well?” Wonshik asks Sanghyuk but the cyborg shakes his head, wiping his mouth. 

 

“I understand emotions extremely well. To the point where I feel too much but I can shut it off. And the colours that I see, I can see it in people. You're pink.”

 

That's definitely the last colour Wonshik expected himself to be but he doesn't mind it. He's heard of that before; people are able to feel energy from others and some humans have a certain aura of them, whether it’s a colour or a feeling. “You can see these all the time?”

 

Sanghyuk shrugs, deciding it’s better to sit in a chair than the floor. He's big, broad shoulders and a strong jaw whilst Hakyeon is a little more soft, a round face and lithe limbs. They're opposites, really but so is Taekwoon with his sharp eyes and Jaehwan with his smile when Wonshik catches him before he can scowl. 

 

“It’s different for everyone,” Sanghyuk admits with a frown. “I couldn't see Taekwoon-hyung’s for a really long time. I thought he didn't have one.”

 

“Maybe it’s linked to humanity?” Wonshik asks but that was  _ not _ the right thing to say. Sanghyuk’s eyes turn blood red like Taekwoon’s and Hakyeon scowls at him, his fists clenching.

 

“That's not what I meant,” Wonshik blurts quickly when Sanghyuk stands up in a flash. “I meant that Taekwoon is the newest one to be created, right? And he was made by  _ all _ of you so maybe you couldn't see it because all of your auras cancelled his out?”

 

Sanghyuk blinks and the colour drains from his eyes, crystal white left behind. He sits down and that seems to work because he shrugs again while Hakyeon uncurls his fists and sighs. “It could be. He wouldn't wake up without us.”

 

“But now it’s red like you planned it to be,” Hakyeon says, closing his eyes. Sanghyuk doesn't waste time in telling Wonshik what he thought and he pulls a sketchbook from nowhere to show him the original sketch of Taekwoon, Hakyeon’s handwriting next to it and all of it is in red, pretty and clean lines despite it being pen. Sanghyuk is talented to say the least and there's a few more he's done of each of them, even of Wonshik.

 

“That's why it’s pink,” he says, pointing out things Wonshik hasn't even notice about himself before. Are his eyes really that hooded? He supposes he knew that but the hair is what makes him smile. Everything about the drawing is accurate but him with pink hair is such a random thought that it makes him laugh.

 

Sanghyuk rips out the page and hands it to him. “You can have it. It’s not that good.”

 

“He likes painting,” Hakyeon interrupts when Wonshik tries to tell Sanghyuk that yes, it very much  _ is good are you joking? _ “Large scale things. He’s too big for sketchbooks, or so Jaehwan theorised. And Hongbin is left handed so don't get  _ him _ started on that.”

 

“Imagine being left handed,” Sanghyuk snorts, laying his sketchbook down and unfolding some of the pages. There's one of Jaehwan in green, of him smiling and Hongbin takes up a whole A5 page in purple, his eyes bright even in the splotchy cheap pencil. There's one of Hakyeon and Taekwoon, opposites in every way and another of Wonshik, off him looking down at something.

 

“There's none of you,” Wonshik mumbles as he scans the pages. 

 

“Yellow looks bad on white paper.” Sanghyuk’s answer is quick but not hurtful. It’s simply a fact but Sanghyuk can see a lot more colours than Wonshik and yet he's still limited. It’s strange to think that Wonshik keeps learning more and more about them but they too have their limits. That plays a factor in what makes them so human, he thinks and it’s interesting to consider it all.

 

Wonshik is about to ask another question but the piano he hears very often starts again and he’s began to associate the sound with Taekwoon even if they don’t talk much. It’s his music and he’s quite talented even through the walls and floor of the house. 

 

“How long has he been playing?” he asks instead, hoping that it will also help calm down the earlier mess up.

 

“Since he woke up,” Hakyeon answers, listening to the music with his eyes still closed. That’s enough thing Wonshik has noticed; they don’t say ‘created’ or ‘alive’. He’s never heard any of them, even Hongbin, say anything besides waking up, like they’ve always been there but weren’t ready to come out of a dreamscape. But Hongbin created them from his thought, from his knowledge so he supposes it’s accurate in a backwards philosophical way.

 

Sanghyuk ends up leaving and Hakyeon sees Wonshik to the door, dusting off his jacket like a mother would to her son. It’s familiar in a way that hurts him but he doesn’t comment on it, especially when Hakyeon’s hands smooth down the wrinkles, his eyes fixed on the task at hand.

 

“Is it hard?” Wonshik finds himself asking quietly. He doesn’t really know what he’s referring to but Hakyeon understands as much as he can and sighs, shrugging his shoulders.

 

“We make due, don’t we?” he answers just as quietly.

 

Sometimes, that’s all you can do in a world like theirs.

  
  


***

  
  


Jaehwan’s ‘talk’ goes a little worse than Hakyeon and Sanghyuk’s.

 

He strictly states all his rules and one of those is that Hongbin has to stay outside the door at all times and if Wonshik says anything to aggravate Jaehwan, the cyborg has every right to kill him. Wonshik just agreed because what could he honestly say that would change Jaehwan’s mind? If he’s going to do anything, he needs to show him what he’s not what the cyborg believes him to be.

 

So, he does.

 

Wonshik sits down with Jaehwan in Hongbin’s lab and just starts talking. At first, Jaehwan is confused and almost stops him in protest, unsure of why Wonshik is suddenly talking about his family and how he was raised, the type of world he grew up in but he sits down in stunned silence when Wonshik talks of his father and sister, how he wanted to help them and why he became a doctor.

 

He tells him what was said to him when he was a training doctor and for the first time ever, Jaehwan replies to him with enthusiasm and waves his hands around, recounting his first job and what one of his co-workers told him when she was in pre-med. She had been told the same thing that Wonshik heard and Jaehwan goes on and on about how he himself is part of a revolution that no one wants.

 

“I’m sick of it!” he hisses to Wonshik, close to his face as the topic continues to get heated but it’s not directed at him for once. “We’re all revolutionary! I know what I am and I know how I came to be. I’m a cyborg and that’s all I am but people are fearful of things they don’t fucking want to understand and Hongbin tells me I should never tell anyone but sometimes, it’s hard to just-”

 

Jaehwan takes a deep breath in the middle of his sentence which results in Wonshik sputtering with laughter. Jaehwan tries to get him to shut up so he can  _ continue _ but it doesn’t work. Once he finally stops choking, Jaehwan rattles on again but it’s more serious this time. Wonshik didn’t expect to have a conversation with Jaehwan at all so he’ll take anything he can get.

 

“I don’t hate Hongbin,” Jaehwan confesses, looking down at his hands. “I… I’m out in the world and I meet a lot of people and- I know it’s dangerous and I know the risks but… Is it really taught that cyborgs are death machines?”

 

Wonshik is surprised to see tears welling up in Jaehwan’s eyes. He can’t stop himself before he wipes them away without thinking but Jaehwan doesn’t shove him away or curse him. 

 

“It’s very complicated,” Wonshik murmurs. “My father never fed into the bullshit of the robots in war and such. And when I was training, my team and I were shocked by whatever was being told to us. The world kills what’s different and we’re forced to accept it.”

 

“The world sucks,” Jaehwan says, closing his eyes and pouting. “Everything is garbage and I hate the reality I live in.”

 

Wonshik chuckles. He couldn’t agree more, honestly. The world they live in is fine until it affects you and when it does, it’s everyone’s problem. No one cares for your name or who you are if you don't fit into their criteria of what's right and what's wrong.

 

“You're not wrong,” Wonshik presses, his hand on Jaehwan’s shoulder. “You have to know that.”

 

Jaehwan sniffs and nods once, twice. He pats Wonshik’s arm and smiles when Wonshik decides to thread his fingers through his hair and pet him. He doesn't know why he does it or why Jaehwan likes it so much but it calms him down enough that his tears dry.

 

“I wouldn't have thought you could cry,” Wonshik comments, back to his notes in a flash. Jaehwan doesn't seem to mind.

 

The cyborg nods and spins once on his chair just for fun. “Mine are the only ones that are normal. Hakyeon’s tears are always black and sometimes, Sanghyuk cries different colours.”

 

“And Taekwoon?” Wonshik taps his pen on his notebook which catches Jaehwan’s attention. “I’ve heard the least about him.”

 

Jaehwan stops spinning, slowly coming to a stop but he stares at the wall. Everyone has a lot to say about Taekwoon until they're asked which unnecessarily makes him seem more mysterious than Wonshik thinks.

 

“Taekwoon is different,” and that's the second time Wonshik has heard that. “He… I’ve never seen him cry. I don't know if he can. We all made him and he has parts of my temper, Hakyeon’s stubbornness, Hongbin’s intelligence and Sanghyuk’s humour. He fits in with a little bit of everyone but he's not… I don't know how to explain it.”

 

“He seems off?”

 

“No, not like that. He has all of us but he doesn't understand us? Oh,” Jaehwan throws his hands up and scowls. “I don't know how to say it. He's just different but it’s not a bad thing.” He stands up and opens the drawers of Hongbin’s desk, pulling out a journal type book. When he opens it, Wonshik is surprised to see realistic portraits on the pages as well as designs and names scribbled in Hongbin’s handwriting.

 

“Hakyeon, Sanghyuk, Taekwoon and I were all ideas once,” Jaehwan says, showing Wonshik the sketches and proportions of each cyborg. “What if Hongbin scraped me when he screwed up that chest piece? Where would I be? Or if he never made Hakyeon, we all wouldn’t exist. If Sanghyuk wasn’t created, Taekwoon wouldn’t be here either. So, where did  _ we _ come from?”

 

“Do you remember?” Wonshik asks but it feels ridiculous to ask. Where was he before he was born? He can’t question the question and Jaehwan was created into a twenty-something year old body out of thin air and just knew what to do.

 

Jaehwan pauses his searching on a portrait of Sanghyuk and he tilts his head. “I don’t have any memories before I woke up. I feel that… Things feel familiar in a way I didn’t think they would but before I woke up, I was nothing.”

 

They sit in silence for a while. What can Wonshik say that would have any effect on Jaehwan? That he understands or that it’s natural to not have any knowledge of any prior existence? None of it is comforting but he hopes that the fact that he doesn’t know either is at least somewhat less lonesome.

 

“We’re all something,” Wonshik says after a while, when Jaehwan’s eyes are fixed on the portrait of Sanghyuk again. “We’re all still growing. Technically, you’re still a child.”

 

Jaehwan doesn’t look up when he answers. “But the world forces kids to grow up, doesn’t it?” 

 

Wonshik sighs, hating that he’s right in the worst way.

  
  
  


***

  
  


In the few months that Wonshik has known Hongbin, he’s never seen him sleep until now.

 

Wonshik came over to compare notes and ask Hongbin specific questions about his own reflection of each of the cyborgs. They run over Hakyeon’s abilities and what Hongbin knows of them and the added fact that apparently he cries black tears.

 

“I don’t know how I fucked that up,” Hongbin says, the straw from his drink still in his mouth. “And I can’t fix it, either. He’s constantly cold, too, but I can’t fix any of it. He doesn’t really mind though.”

 

“Good in the summer,” Wonshik laughs, earning a slap on his arm from Hongbin even though he’s positive the mechanic has to have made that joke once before.

 

He’s yet to speak to Taekwoon and he wants to speak to Sanghyuk privately and Hongbin agrees, commenting how Sanghyuk apparently likes him and wants to see him again. Jaehwan whined about Hongbin ‘hogging’ Wonshik for tonight to which Wonshik snorts, shaking his head when Hongbin asks just  _ what they talked about  _ when he wasn’t around.

 

“You were outside!” Wonshik protests, red in the face. Jaehwan is a nice guy but it’s nothing like that at all.

 

“I left after like, twenty minutes,” Hongbin snorts, leaning back in his chair. He attempts to balance his glass on his stomach but it doesn’t work and he almost loses the contents of his juice but his hand shoots out and grabs it just in time. “Got bored,” he adds sheepishly.

 

They stare at each other until Wonshik cracks and starts laughing. After a while, Hongbin leaves Wonshik to his own things, occasionally answering his questions but it’s quiet for some time, peaceful. The piano hasn’t started up in a while but it’s not that that rips Wonshik from his work. Hongbin has been confusingly quiet and when he turns in his chair, the mechanic is dead asleep with his head to the side. 

 

Wonshik can’t help but laugh at him because his legs are outstretched in front of him and his neck is at an awkward angle. He should help him but Hakyeon would be best suited for it. When he goes upstairs, he doesn’t have to say a word because Hakyeon sighs and puts his book down, leading the way back to the lab. They don’t speak even when Hakyeon picks Hongbin up bridal style and carries him up the stairs. Hakyeon does pause up there and turns slowly, squinting at the clock on Hongbin’s desk.

 

“It’s late,” he comments, glancing down at Hongbin. “You should stay unless you want to go home. It could be dangerous.”

 

Wonshik stares at him for a moment, dumbfounded. They’d let someone stay in their house, knowing all that he knows? Well, maybe it’s not so out of character considering that Wonshik very much can be trusted and has proven it multiple times and they do trust him, to the point where they apparently are fine with him staying in their damn house. He supposes if he were to try anything, Taekwoon’s room is right next to the lab so it’s not he’d get away with anything. Hakyeon most definitely knows it, too.

 

“If it’s alright,” he answers, just to be polite. Hakyeon smiles and turns, up the stairs with his partner basically deadweight in his arms but it doesn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. Wonshik takes a breath and returns to the lab, uncharacteristically awake. It’s almost one in the morning and he’s essentially wide awake, a first for him but it means he can finish his notes and make them all a little neater and organised.

 

For a while, he gets straight into his work. Hongbin has nice pens and he’s positive that some of them are Sanghyuk’s so he avoids the ones that seem like they have pretty ink and sticks to classic black and blue. A lot of ripping out pages and rearranging information is what he has to do and he made good progress with Hongbin before he sank into dreamland.

 

The door creaks open when Wonshik leans back. He thinks it might be Hongbin to tell him to leave his damn house but he turns and sees Taekwoon in the doorway, his hand tight on the doorknob and his eyes blood red and unblinking. He would be scared if he wasn’t so focused so he simply stares back, waiting for the cyborg to speak. It seems like the beginning of a bad plot of a low budget robot movie that Wonshik almost laughs at the irony but he refrains for the sake of hearing Taekwoon out.

 

“Hongbin isn’t here,” he states, more than asks. “He should be here.”

 

“Hakyeon took him upstairs after he fell asleep,” Wonshik answers calmly. He turns his chair to look at him properly.

 

Taekwoon watches him for a moment before looking around the lab and zeroing in on the notes on the desk. He moves silently towards him, staring at the notes with wide eyes but he’s not scared. He’s simply looking and Wonshik doesn’t bother to stop his own gaze fixating on Taekwoon’s profile.

 

His red eyes scan the pages wildly before he blinks, finally, and pulls Hongbin’s chair in to sit in it. “I don’t eat,” he says, pointing at the notes Wonshik first made of his meeting with Hakyeon and Sanghyuk. “I don’t eat nor can I taste things but I cook all the meals for Hongbin.”

 

Wonshik slowly moves, taking the pen from beside Taekwoon’s hand and writing that fact down quickly. Taekwon immediately frowns at it and leans forward, squinting cutely at the shorthand. He doesn’t ask a question but turns his head and trains his frown at Wonshik instead.

 

“Woon is you,” Wonshik says quietly, tapping the pen underneath the lettering. “That’s the only word I actually wrote. It says what you just said. A lot of doctors use it, that’s why prescriptions you get given at clinics never make any sense.”

 

Taekwoon turns back to the shorthand and picks through the pages quickly, scanning all of them at lightning speed. Wonshik isn’t even sure he’s absorbing any of it but he’s definitely attempting to read it as best as he can.

 

“It doesn't look like a language,” he finally concludes, leaning back. “Are you even writing anything or are you just doing it to seem clever?”

 

His question is so blunt that it makes Wonshik’s head reel. Is he just doing it to be smart? Why is he agreeing with Taekwoon? 

 

He instead just laughs because it’s late and he lost his brain when Hongbin went to bed. Taekwoon looks at him curiously for a moment before he's back to frowning, shaking his head.

 

“I didn't make a joke but you laughed.”

 

“You don't have to.” Wonshik has his eyes on his notes but his ears are starting to heat up in embarrassment for absolutely no reason. He didn't expect his first meeting with Taekwoon to be this but it’s better than Jaehwan’s so he’ll take what he can get. “I laughed because you're right. Maybe I am just doing it to seem clever but a lot of doctors write in shorthand so I couldn't have gotten through medical training without knowing what was being written.”

 

Taekwoon leans forward again and then back to look at Wonshik properly, relaxed and a little lazy. His eyes are brown but have the slightest lingering red that makes them easy to look into, to analyse. All of them are handsome in a way Wonshik didn't expect them to be and he can understand why Hongbin was so confused with himself when he realised his feelings for Hakyeon. Even Jaehwan, with his stubbornness and fiery temper, struck Wonshik as pretty when he first saw him. Sanghyuk’s boyish innocence is a charm that he most definitely uses to his advantage and Taekwoon is something else; strong cheekbones and jaw with feline like eyes. He’s almost ethereal, especially with his eyes swimming faintly with crimson.

 

Taekwoon hums and stands in one fluid motion, wrenching his fingers together and even his fingers are long. All of them are strikingly unique and Wonshik doesn't know how Hongbin really did it, how it made all them feel so real and human but that's just the thing; they all  _ are _ human in a way. Sanghyuk draws and flicks his pen around his fingers like a fidgeting high schooler. Hakyeon dotes on all of them like a mother and kisses Hongbin when he whines and says he doesn't want it. Jaehwan goes to work and comes home so he can tell them all about the day he’s had and what he did. And Taekwoon… Something about him is different but his confusion makes him innocent, makes him eager to learn and makes Wonshik want to show him everything the world hasn't fucked up yet.

 

“I was looking for Hongbin because he helps me to go to sleep,” Taekwoon says quietly, not meeting Wonshik’s gaze. “Hakyeon would usually do it but he's busy as well. It’s late.”

 

Wonshik cleans up his papers, a little unsure. Should he offer? It seems out of like to do something like that, especially since he doesn't know what to actually  _ do. _ But Taekwoon won't sleep otherwise and he didn't even know they had to sleep.

 

“I could help but you might have to tell me what to do,” Wonshik says, more of a question than an offer but Taekwoon nods, handing him the small binder on the floor when he asks for it.

 

“It’s simple. And it’s not proper sleep. It’s like… When you put a computer to sleep.” Taekwoon points at Hongbin’s laptop, touching the mouse. He doesn't click anything but the computer powers down instantly. He draws back and Wonshik simply nods like he understands and stands up.

 

He's nervous as he follows Taekwoon into his room. He shouldn't be, he's doing what Hongbin or Hakyeon would normally do but they know Taekwoon, know him better than anyone else so he's a little out of his element.

 

Taekwoon’s room is standard, the only thing out of place being the gigantic grand piano off to the side. There's only a bed, an electrical station next to and then the piano, the walls bare and the paint peeling a little from the walls. It’s horribly bare but at the same time, it fits Taekwoon who seems much more comfortable than he was before in Hongbin’s lab.

 

He sits down on the bed and Wonshik does too, watching as Taekwoon pulls out things from the desk, a needle of sorts and shows it to him.

 

“This goes into my arm,” he says, letting Wonshik hold it as he pulls up his sleeve. “At my wrist. That's all you have to do.”

 

Wonshik nods quickly, letting Taekwoon lie down before he royally freaks out but Taekwoon lays his hand in Wonshik’s lap and helps him guide the needle into his wrist.  _ It’s just like doing a shot, _ he tells himself and it’s familiar when he considers it like that, his breathing returning to normal as Taekwoon’s eyes slip closed.

 

“Go to the computer and press the five key,” Taekwoon whispers, his voice soft and barely there. Wonshik does as he's told, sitting down down next to Taekwoon as the cyborg takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling steadily.

 

“It will put me to sleep for five hours,” he mumbles before finally falling asleep, his hand still in Wonshik’s lap with the needle slipped in, comfortable and with no blood. 

 

Wonshik holds his hand so he can stand up and lays it comfortably next to him, leaving the needle in because he isn't sure he needs to take it out. His instincts tell him definitely should but Taekwoon didn't tell him to. He looks around once more, Taekwoon sleeping peacefully with his hair hanging over his eyes and leaves before his mind can make him anxious again.

 

The cot in Hongbin’s lab is calling his name and he grabs his jacket from the hook at the door, pulling it over himself for a blanket and closing his eyes. Wonshik doesn't know what time it is but he falls asleep instantly, not even thinking about having to write down Taekwoon’s behaviour or the treatment he needs to fall asleep. 

 

He simply dreams of red and smiles.


	4. four

Wonshik startles awake when he's poked, hands flying out and trying to pinch whatever the hell is touching him but he recognises Taekwoon in his fight and stills, confused even as Taekwoon grips his wrists to stop him from swinging his hands again.

 

“It’s seven in the morning,” Taekwoon whispers, like he didn't just raised Wonshik’s heartbeat by two hundred. “No one is awake. I’m going to make breakfast if you want it.”

 

Wonshik blinks at him in surprise, sitting up properly to rub his eyes. What year is it? He rubs his face, catching his stubble and shakes his head when he remembers Taekwoon gave him an option. “No, I should… I should go home. Thank you, though.”

 

Taekwoon stares at him for a moment, his lips parting as if he wants to say something but he decides against it, nodding. “I understand. I'll show you to the door.”

 

Wonshik smiles when the cyborg looks away from him, splotches of pink on his cheeks. He stands up shakily, drawing Taekwoon’s attention. “Do you want me to stay?”

 

Taekwoon shrugs, attempting for nonchalant and failing because of the blush riding high on his cheeks. “We haven't yet spoken about things, so I thought that now would be a good time. That's all. It’s not necessary if you don't agree with me.”

 

Wonshik shakes his head and stretches, cracking his back in the process which seems to surprise Taekwoon but he doesn’t comment on it. “We can talk over breakfast and then I’ll leave. How does that sound?”

 

Taekwoon nods once, saying nothing more. He doesn’t wait for Wonshik and leaves the lab, letting Wonshik stumble up the stairs in his haze. Taekwoon moves quickly and Wonshik only just remembers to grab his notebook before going up to the kitchen. 

 

He watches Taekwoon as he cooks, just for one person because Jaehwan is at work and Hongbin won’t be awake for a while. He answers Wonshik’s questions with as few words as possible but he’s giving answers without getting emotional about it, something Wonshik doesn’t take for granted.

 

When Taekwoon finishes and serves up the breakfast dish of eggs, bacon, toast and small pancakes, Wonshik almost cries. It’s so good and at first, he doesn’t acknowledge Taekwoon’s curious eyes on him but when he glances at him, Taekwoon doesn’t hide the fact that he’s blatantly staring.

 

“Why did you become friends with Hongbin?” he blurts and Wonshik blinks as he swallows, setting down his cutlery. He takes his notebook and flips to the beginning, where his first notes of Hongbin are and shows Taekwoon. There’s nothing for him to hide, for he has no malicious intent and there’s only one proper way to show it on paper.

 

“Hongbin never threatened me with violence or paid me to keep my mouth shut,” Wonshik says as Taekwoon reads. “We trusted each other to keep each other safe. Hongbin isn’t the only one in danger if his secret escapes. It’s up to me to keep my side of the deal or we’re both screwed. That, and,” Wonshik clears his throat, taking the water that Taekwoon offers him, “I had never seen a cyborg in person. If I had, they fooled me.”

 

Taekwoon’s lips part, pink and soft and he looks at Wonshik with his electrifying red eyes in one sharp motion. It makes Wonshik leans back from him, just to take it in because Taekwoon’s eyes are pretty, if anything, despite the colour. They swirl with colour and there’s depth in them, beautiful and engaging.

 

“Did you only want to learn more about us? That’s all?” he says quietly, unsure.

 

Wonshik nods once. “I’m a doctor. I wanted to educate myself in a field I’m unfamiliar with and Hongbin let me. He trusts me.”

 

“How do you trust someone?” 

 

Wonshik looks down because  _ that _ stumps him. He can’t really explain it to Taekwoon; you just… know? When you’re close with someone, you just trust them because they have your secrets that you give them. That’s why Hongbin trusts him; he gave Wonshik one of his deepest secrets and Wonshik learnt all that he could so that he wouldn’t slip up. When he tells Taekwoon that much, the cyborg’s expression blanks and he simply frowns, closing the notebook.

 

“Humans are convoluted.” His voice lacks the emotion Wonshik thought it would and on impulse, he takes Taekwoon’s wrist before he can leave, before he can drop the conversation altogether.

 

“I could help you understand,” he says and Taekwoon stares at him, red eyes wide and unblinking. He clearly hasn’t learnt from everyone else; he doesn’t have Jaehwan’s outgoing personality or Hakyeon’s nurture. He doesn’t have Hongbin’s smile and he doesn’t have Sanghyuk’s innocence. He’s just… Taekwoon. And Wonshik wants to know  _ him _ , not who he was created by.

 

“Humans are stupid,” Wonshik laughs but it goes over Taekwoon’s head. “They rush into things and can be awful creatures. But they’re human and I… Maybe I could teach you things about them.”

 

Taekwoon glances at where Wonshik has his wrist, letting his arm drop when Wonshik snatches his hand away in surprise. He didn’t mean to grab him or force him into anything. But Taekwoon sits back down, back straight and practised. 

 

“Hongbin doesn’t tell me much. I can’t go out. He says that I’m…  _ different _ .” Taekwoon scowls which Wonshik takes note of. At least he’s mastered the emotion of anger. “It’s so difficult to- I don’t have the emotions that everyone else does. I don’t feel them. Is that a human thing, too? Or am I just the one that’s  _ different _ ?”

 

“Humans respond differently to a lot of things.” Wonshik finishes off his breakfast quickly so they can properly talk. “Say you witness something bad, like someone falling over. How would Hakyeon respond to someone hurting themselves in that way?”

 

Taekwoon’s reply is instant, like the conversation is a game. “He’d worry.” 

 

“And Hongbin?”

 

Taekwoon pauses, his eyes darting to the side in thought. He blinks once, twice before looking back at Wonshik, focused. “He’d laugh.”

 

Wonshik can’t help but smile at that. He’d probably laugh too, if someone stacked it in front of him. “That’s what I mean. Humans are all different. Would you care if someone fell over in front of you? Would Jaehwan?”

 

“Jaehwan would probably help them.” Taekwoon thinks about his own response before frowning. “I don’t know what I would do. It would be logical to help them.”

 

“Hakyeon would help them instantly,” Wonshik says, sipping his water. “But Hongbin and I would probably laugh and  _ then _ help them. It’s a different response because we’re different people. I’d probably think about how to treat their injuries whilst Hongbin might dust them off and be done with it. Different experiences and knowledge make people different. It’s not a bad thing.”

 

Taekwoon nods along, even though his frown says otherwise. He's trying to understand which is better than nothing but the amount of times that Wonshik just said  _ different _ probably didn't help. But he's quick to clean up the breakfast dishes and tells Wonshik to follow him back down to his room. 

 

_ Isn't it invasive? _ Wonshik feels like he has to ask someone’s permission before going into Taekwoon’s bedroom but the cyborg waits for him to step inside before he shuts the door. Suddenly, it’s a whole lot more awkward but Taekwoon presents the piano to him and they sit together, shoulder to shoulder as Taekwoon places his fingers on the keys.

 

They don’t speak as Taekwoon plays. It’s easier to not speak and Wonshik has an inkling of a feeling that Taekwoon likes this better, finds it more comfortable. Wonshik is focused on his hands, how the notes seem to ripple over his skin and create music through the air only for them to hear. Taekwoon closes his eyes but his fingers don't stop and he continues the melody blindly. He’s wonderfully talented, even if Wonshik doesn't recognise what he's playing. It’s all a harmony and it’s beautiful, in all sense of the word.

 

“It’s incredible,” Wonshik says when Taekwoon suddenly stops, drawing his hands close to himself, self-consciously. “You're extremely talented.”

 

“It’s a hobby,” Taekwoon says, his red eyes flickering. They return to brown but red spider webs appear through his skin before disappearing. “Are there jobs like this out there? Hongbin doesn't let me leave.”

 

Wonshik knew that much but he doesn’t know why. When he asks, Taekwoon’s eyes flicker a little but he focuses them on his hands on the piano keys, away from Wonshik’s gaze. He looks sorrowful but it’s lacking somewhat. It’s clouded in confusion, Wonshik realises.

 

“I don’t think he trusts me.” Taekwoon’s voice is emotionless; he’s thought about this before. “I’m not like anyone else. I’m… I’m missing things. I can’t be friendly like Hakyeon and I’m not approachable like Jaehwan. I’m different and people don’t like different.”

 

“You’re being friendly with me,” Wonshik offers, placing his hand on the piano keys to play whatever tune he can remember from elementary school. “Jaehwan hated me and Sanghyuk almost fought me about you. They’re fiercely protective of you, I think. They only want to keep you safe.”

 

“Because I’ll sell them out if I go into the world.” Taekwoon scowls at his hands, screwing up the keys and grunting at himself. “I’m not convincing enough. I don’t feel like other people do. I’ll give it all away and that’s why Hongbin doesn’t trust me.”

 

Neither of them speak. They’re not close but Wonshik wants Taekwoon to trust him. He wants to understand why he thinks the way that he does because each of them are different. They look different, act different, speak differently. Nothing is the same in any of them and Wonshik is reminded as to why he even started this experiment. When he turns to Taekwoon, they meet each other’s gazes with wide eyes and Wonshik blurts, “What do you remember before you woke up?”

 

Taekwoon’s mouth opens but he doesn’t speak. He frowns and looks away again, running his hands over the keys but not playing. “I don’t- There was nothing. But then there was everything and I saw Hongbin first. I knew who he was immediately, like I had always known and I was remembering. He held my hand and it… it felt like coming home.” He looks at Wonshik, looking horribly afraid but Wonshik takes his hand from the piano and holds it in a way he hopes is comforting. They’re not close but Taekwoon looks lost in that moment.

 

“They love you,” Wonshik promises, looking at their hands. “I know that we don’t know each other well but- the way they defend you and talk about you. It’s nothing short of love.”

 

Taekwoon only nods, his fingers flexing in Wonshik’s grasp. He lets go but Taekwoon doesn’t move his hand, his eyes fixed in the same spot but he looks up at Wonshik, determination evident in his gaze and asks, “Will you teach me how to be human?” and Wonshik feels like crying.

 

“If you want it,” Wonshik manages, trying not to sound worrisome. “But you have to promise that you won’t forget who you are. I can’t make you human.”

 

“I don’t want to be human,” Taekwoon answers, almost angry. “I will never be human. I never was and I never will be. But just because I’m not human doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be allowed to see the world like everyone else.”

 

Wonshik couldn’t agree more. He pats Taekwoon’s hand and this time, it’s Taekwoon who grasps his hand and holds it tightly, comforting and strong.

  
  


***

  
  


“Should I let Taekwoon get a job?”

 

Wonshik blinks at his notes that he’s not absorbing, slowly turning his head to Hongbin across the room. The mechanic has his arm open as he works on it, something Wonshik didn’t bother to try and understand because he gets blood, he gets muscle, not hotwiring and screwdrivers.

 

“Why do you bring it up?” Wonshik replies, gazing back at his notes. When Hongbin looks at him, he’s completely focused on his shorthand that only he can read. Taekwoon was right; his handwriting fucking sucks.

 

Hongbin hums, flicking his screwdriver out of his arm before closing the plastic casing and threading the needle through the skin to weld it back into place. “I heard you both talking. Taekwoon has never said any of that to me.”

 

“Are you upset?”

 

“A little.” Hongbin turns to face Wonshik completely. “I do trust him. I trust him more than anything but… He’s the one I’m most worried about.”

 

“Because he can’t replicate emotions well.” Wonshik isn’t trying to be rude but it’s coming across as it. Taekwoon has been essentially locked up in this house for years now but no one has bothered to help him get better. He can replicate some emotions and is good with facial expressions but all of them besides him have freedom, the freedom to go out into the world and do whatever they want. Sanghyuk even went to school; all Taekwoon has is his piano and it’s not enough for him.

 

“I won’t tell you what to do,” Wonshik starts, crossing his legs but Hongbin waves his hand in dismissal.

 

“Please do.”

 

Wonshik purses his lips for a moment before sighing. “I think you need to let him go. Nothing major like getting a job or anything, I don’t mean that. But he’s never left this house, right?” Hongbin shakes his head. “Then take him out. Just slowly. You can’t worry about him if you’ve never let him do anything.”

 

“What would I do? Where would I take him?”

 

“Well, he can’t eat, Hongbin,” Wonshik says, squinting at him. “So appeal to his interests. Treat it like a date, I guess. He likes piano and he can manipulate sounds. Maybe to an arcade?”

 

Hongbin doesn’t reply for a moment but he does, he’s grinning like a sly fox. When he says, “You take him out,” Wonshik scowls at him.

 

“I’m not his boyfriend,” he retorts but Hongbin shakes his head, laughing.

 

“You’re not, but you said date. Aren’t I technically his father?”

 

“That means you’re Hakyeon’s too,” Wonshik scoffs and that makes Hongbin disgusted. He cringes and shakes his hands around, disgusted at even the implication of it but Wonshik considers it for a moment. He’s not familiar in the way that everyone else is to Taekwoon. It wouldn’t be the same with them and Wonshik doesn’t have to fear the world like they do. He’s been out with Hongbin a few times and taken Sanghyuk to a dance studio he’s enrolled in. For Taekwoon’s first time going out, it might be better for him to go with someone else, someone who knows the world and is comfortable in it rather than out with everyone who worries for him constantly. 

 

He meets Hongbin’s gaze and nods once. “I think it’d be best. You’d just freak out over him.”

 

“I worry for him!” Hongbin defends, sitting up straight. “I worry for all of them! You better not put him in danger or your clinic is about to lose its favourite doctor.”

 

Wonshik laughs, shaking his hands in defense of himself and Hongbin slumps back down, grinning at him because of their own stupid banter. It’s a serious topic but it wouldn’t be them if they didn’t poke fun at it. Hongbin knows Wonshik would never do anything that would hurt any of them or himself. They’re on mutual ground and they trust each other.

 

Wonshik hopes that Taekwoon trusts him too.

  
  


***

 

Taekwoon does trust him.

 

It’s surprising, actually, but Taekwoon stays close to him when they go out, dressed neatly and never straying too far even in crowded places. When Wonshik offers the arcade as their destination, he has to explain what an arcade actually is but Taekwoon nods along, his eyes wide. He hasn’t quite mastered smiling, he told Wonshik but he’s like a little kitten, almost.

 

The arcade is loud as hell but Taekwoon doesn’t seem bothered at all. Wonshik watches him as he takes it all in, his eyes wide and for a moment, they’re red but it’s not like anyone notices. The lights of the arcade flash all around them; Wonshik wouldn’t be surprised if his eyes were green when he gets doused in the light of it. They’re safe.

 

Taekwoon is cautious at first but he ends up at a rhythm game, the piano familiar to him and it’s not long before he’s on expert mode and hitting every note perfectly. Wonshik hides his anxiety when he starts to draw a crowd but no one questions anything. A woman asks him if Taekwoon comes here often and seems satisfied when the answer Wonshik gives is  _ no, he’s just really good at piano. _

 

Taekwoon notices the crowd and messes up a little bit but he finishes with a near perfect score, his cheeks pink and only when Wonshik gets him over to a different machine does he say, “I didn’t think you could blush?” It comes out as more of a question than a statement but Taekwoon nods, keeping quiet in the fray of the abusive sounds of so many machines.

 

“Only I can,” Taekwoon answers after a few minutes, their attention on a co-op drum game now. “Hakyeon can’t heat up, Jaehwan rarely ever feels embarrassed and I’ve never seen Sanghyuk have a reason to. You have to have a reason, don’t you?”

 

“Not necessarily,” Wonshik says, smacking the drum to select their song. “People can flush from exercising. I can’t eat spicy food so when I do, my face gets really hot and red. And when I drink, my neck flushes.”

 

“Water or alcohol?” Taekwoon’s eyes are fixed on the screen and a small smile creeps onto his face as the music begins.

 

“Alcohol,” Wonshik snorts but he’s not laughing for long because Taekwoon is apparently good at this game too. They try to keep up with each other but Wonshik skimmed the controls and Taekwoon is already ahead of him by a few hundred points. Wonshik ends up forfeiting because he can’t keep up and Taekwoon finishes the song by himself, smiling wide and cutely.

 

“You’re smiling,” Wonshik says, dazed and Taekwoon’s face drops immediately, his hands covering his mouth as his cheeks flush again. Wonshik pulls his hands away quickly, laughing sweetly when Taekwoon ducks his head into his chest in embarrassment. “It’s not creepy. You look nice when you smile. Maybe you just didn’t know you could do it.”

 

Taekwoon shakes his head in denial and Wonshik really doesn’t understand why Hongbin couldn’t possibly trust him. This feels like a normal outing with a friend, maybe even a date. Taekwoon feels  _ human _ and Wonshik isn’t worried about him in the slightest. He knows how to control himself, especially his eyes and no one suspects a thing about him. If they do, Wonshik hasn’t realised but Taekwoon has hardly done anything out of the ordinary. He’s… He’s normal.

 

Taekwoon feels human but he’s not and that’s okay. If Wonshik met him on the street or in his clinic, he doesn’t think he’d question him at all. Taekwoon is a little slow on cues but that doesn’t mean he’s a fake. He adapts and learns quickly and that’s all Wonshik or Hongbin could ever really ask for.

 

“Come on,” Wonshik urges softly, Taekwoon’s cheeks still a little pink as they leave the arcade. “I’m starving.”

 

Taekwoon nods and they grab lunch even if Taekwoon doesn’t eat. He can cook though and has a good sense of smell. He tells Wonshik everything that’s in his sandwich from the cafe before Wonshik can even eat it but he’s completely right when he checks. Taekwoon looks proud of himself and Wonshik rocks their shoulders together, shaking his head.

 

When they sit down, Taekwoon is a little quiet as he people watches. Wonshik looks away before he can get caught staring but Taekwoon turns back to him after a while and takes a breath. Wonshik checks to see what he was looking at and it’s a couple, holding hands and gazing at each other and Wonshik’s eyes widen as the man gets down on one knee and proposes.

 

The woman starts to cry and hugs him before he can even ask, unable to speak the words but she nods profusely and Taekwoon is frowning when Wonshik looks back at him.

 

“She’s crying,” he observes.

 

“She’s overwhelmed,” Wonshik corrects softly. “It’s natural to cry like that in response to something. When you come home safe tonight, Hongbin might feel like crying because he’s happy that you’re home.”

 

“But crying is sad,” Taekwoon insists, confused. “Crying is… It’s negative. When you’re stressed, you cry.”

 

“But when you’re relieved, you can cry too.” Wonshik dusts off his hands and leans on the table between them, lacing his fingers together. “It’s been proven that when we respond to a positive situation with a negative emotion, it helps us to overcome strong emotions. When you cry tears of joy, you’re taking a negative emotion and changing it to a positive one.”

 

Taekwoon watches the couple as they simply hold each other, wiping away each other’s tears and he smiles minutely, his eyes alight. “That’s what love is. It’s the same way Hakyeon looks at Hongbin.” He looks at Wonshik suddenly and blurts, “Have you ever been in love?” to which Wonshik’s eyebrow twitches up in thought.

 

No, he doesn’t think so. He’s had crushes before but his last serious relationship was in med school with a girl and he’s had a few casual relationships here and there but he doesn’t think he’s ever properly been in love. He tells Taekwoon that much because no, he’s never been in love.

 

“I think Jaehwan could be,” Taekwoon says, his eyes on Wonshik’s hands in front of them. “Would he be easy to fall in love with?”

 

Wonshik bites his lips, shrugging. “I think anyone can be easy to fall in love with. It’s a matter of who will fall in with someone. Hakyeon and Hongbin love each other like my father loved my mother. It’s hard to come by, I think. But there’s always love around someone, whether it’s platonic or romantic.”

 

Taekwoon nods a few times, small and smiles softly, looking up at Wonshik with his red eyes again before they return back to brown. Wonshik refuses to admit that his heart speeds up a little at the sight but Taekwoon is intriguing. He’s smart and talented, even if he doesn’t understand certain things. But he wants to understand and Wonshik wants to teach him all that he can until Taekwoon gains his confidence because he deserves to feel secure. Wonshik understands why everyone is so protective of Taekwoon. Hell,  _ he’s _ protective of Taekwoon and it makes him happy to see him comfortable, safe.

 

Wonshik takes Taekwoon home before the sun sets but he doesn’t stay over this time. He has work and as much as he would like to, he still needs to attend to his job. When they step up to the front door, Taekwoon turns to him before opening the door and hugs him tightly, warm and endearing and Wonshik’s arms couldn’t circle around him faster.

 

“Thank you,” Taekwoon whispers, pulling away before Wonshik can say anything else and smiling softly at him with pink cheeks. “You taught me a lot.”

 

“I didn’t do much,” Wonshik says, dumbly.

 

“You convinced Hongbin of something I haven’t been able to in years.” Taekwoon scratches his ear, almost in embarrassment. Now that they’re alone and at the house, Taekwoon lets his eyes return to their usual red, otherworldly and pretty in the coming dark. “So, thank you for that. And for being patient with me.”

 

“Always.” And he means that. Taekwoon can tell he does and smiles again, unlocking the front door and slipping inside without another word. Wonshik keeps his smile to himself and walks away from the house, hailing a taxi four blocks away to keep them safe.

 

Because that’s what he promised and it’s all he wants. He wants them to be safe.

 

But it doesn’t last long.

 

When Wonshik sees the looks on his receptionists faces in the next few weeks, he knows something is wrong. They avoid his eyes and Wonshik frowns as he steps into his office, locking the door behind him and loading up his computer. He searches for it all, anything of his or Hongbin’s name and feels sick when he sees Hongbin’s name but not his in the news articles.

 

They talk of his father, connecting the dots and even Hongbin’s university records have been referenced. It’s been a while since people were targeted for simply creating robots but Hongbin is pinned, along with a few others that Wonshik has never heard of because of their work in the field. Hongbin’s old robots from university are pulled into question but there’s nothing about Hakyeon, Jaehwan, Taekwoon or Sanghyuk. Wonshik hates that he’s relieved but the penny drops further when the article says that several of the other named individuals have been detains on the suspect of having cybernetic enhancements.

 

Wonshik feels sick, horribly ill as he dials Hongbin’s number and he almost falls over when the mechanic answers, his voice croaky. “Have you seen the news?” he questions before Hongbin can properly answer him and there’s silence whilst Hongbin types into his computer.

 

_ “Son of a bitch,” _ Hongbin spits once he sees it all.  _ “I… My records are confidential. I was advanced in the course- I thought this would have gone away, how did they-” _

 

“I don’t know but it is confidential,” Wonshik says, hoping for reassurance. “They can’t do this, Hongbin. But none of the others are mentioned. It’s only about you having cybernetic enhancements.”

 

_ “It could be worse but that doesn’t make me any less nervous.” _ Hongbin sighs.  _ “Have you been questioned? Your clinic would know that I’ve been seeing you.” _

 

“They don’t know I’ve seen you in private.” Wonshik stills at a knock on his door, frowning. “I have to go,” he whispers quickly. “Stay on the line, so you know if anything happens.”

 

But it’s only his receptionist, saying he has another patient. He thanks her and quickly hangs up on Hongbin after saying goodbye, trying to resume his life as damn normal and it works for a while. No one questions him and when his receptionists ask where Hongbin has been because they remember him, Wonshik shrugs and pretends to check the records in his clipboard. He shakes his head, frowning at the files and saying that he hasn’t seen Hongbin in a few months. The records have his mother’s old house address instead of where he currently lives and there’s no phone number for anyone to harass him with.

 

“I saw him on the news, doctor,” one of the receptionists says quietly. “Do you know if he has enhancements? Is he scary?”

 

Wonshik feels like an idiot just talking about it. “No, he’s hardly scary. And why would he come to me if he had enhancements? I wouldn’t be able to treat him.”

 

The receptionists seem satisfied with that remark at least and Wonshik tries to restart his day with wishful thinking and a whole lot of alcohol when he gets home. They’re okay, it was one slip up but nothing to be concerned about. People live in fear of what they don’t know and it’s easier to point the blame at someone than take the fall. If Hongbin is investigated, he’ll know what to do. Wonshik has his back through this all, that’s for sure.

 

He leaves Hongbin and text and is surprised to see who replies to him.

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ h e’s not well - taekwoon

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ he’s scared. He hasn’t eaten all day and he threw up at noon. He won’t rest.

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ what do you do when you’re scared? How do i help?

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik:  _ stay with him taekwoon. We’re all in this together, okay? Make sure all of you are there with him. I’ll be over as soon as i can.

  
  


_ Lee Hongbin:  _ okay.

 

_ Lee Hongbin:  _ i trust you.

  
  


_ Kim Wonshik:  _ i trust you too.

 

Wonshik swallows his nerves and decides it’s better to wait a while before anything. If he leaves too soon, it will be labelled as suspicious if he’s found out considering he said he hadn’t seen Hongbin in months. All of them have been careful.

 

It’s painful to watch it unfold but that’s all they can do. All they can do is wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm always open to questions or anything you don't understand ^^ thank you for reading!


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